The present Invention relates to a new and distinct Ilex plant, botanically known as Ilex x meserveae and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘SMNIFA’.
The new Ilex plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Grand Haven, Mich. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new uniform Ilex plants that are unique in form and winter-hardy.
The new Ilex plant originated from an open-pollination in 2005 of Ilex x meserveae ‘Winterglanz’, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown selection of Ilex x meserveae, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Ilex plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor in 2011 as a single plant within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled environment in Grand Haven, Mich.
Asexual reproduction of the new Ilex plant by softwood cuttings in Grand Haven, Mich. since 2011 has shown that the unique features of the new Ilex plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.